Paper folding machine



' Jan. 18, 1966 T, BANKS 3,229,974

PAPER FOLDING MACHINE Filed Nov. 13, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 18, 1966 c. T. BANKS I 3,229,974

Q q q R FAQ Jan. 18, 1966 c. 'r. BANKS PAPER FOLDING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 13, 1963 Jan. 18, 1966 c. T. BANKS 3,229,974

PAPER FOLDING MACHINE Filed Nov. 13, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 United States Patent 3,229,974 PAPER FOLDING MACHINE Charles T. Banks, Neenah, Wis., assignor to Kimberly- Clark Corporation, Neenah, Wis., a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 13, 1963, Ser. No. 323,449 1 Claim. (Cl. 270-73) The invention relates to a folding apparatus, and it is particularly concerned with apparatus for interfolding thin lightweight tissue webs which are of a soft flimsy character having but little tensile strength and which are creped longitudinally of the webs to impart softness.

In one form of machine for interfolding such tissues, such as is disclosed in my Patent 3,044,766, issued July 17, 1962, two continuous webs of tissue paper are separately fed between cutting rolls which sever the webs transversely in such manner as to leave a few very slight bonds connecting the web portions on opposite sides of the line of severance. The continuous webs are each fed to the cutting roils by means of a pair of feed rolls which are driven at such a speed that certain lengths of web are fed to the cutting rolls. Such webs after severance are then fed into face-to-face relation with the lines of severance of one web in staggered relation to the lines of severance in the other, after which the sheet areas between succeeding lines of severance are folded approximately midway between the lines of severance. Folding is effected in such a manner that the bonds connecting successive sheet areas of one web are enclosed between the folds of the other web and preferably at the fold line thereof.

Folding is accomplished by a pair of folding rolls or cylinders each of which carries a plurality of tuckers fixed to the folding roll and each of which also carries pairs of tissue gripping jaws between which the tuckers insert the webs prior to closure of the jaws. The tuckers are operative to insert the tissues between the jaws slightly above a line connecting the centers of the two rolls, and the jaws are closed as the rolls rotate so as to provide folds in the webs on opposite sides of a stack of the webs as folded. The jaws are opened as they approach the sides of the foldled Webs so as to deposit the webs as folded into the state It has been found that it is practically impossible to maintain the creping of the tissue webs uniform. Thus, under some conditions the crepes in the web are more numerous and of greater amplitude to allow greater stretch of the tissue webs without breakage; and, under other conditions, the creping is not so pronounced, so that the tissue is not capable of stretching to such an extent. Under these varying creping conditions, with the feed rolls being driven at a constant speed with respect to the other parts of the machine, a breakage of the bonds in the tissue webs occurs when the crepe is too tight; or else there is too great a length of tissue fed to the cutters, whereby loose, wringled folded sheets are produced by the machine, when the crepe in the webs releases too easily.

It is an object of the present invention to provide mechanism for selectively varying the speed of the web feed rolls with respect to the other parts of the machine and particularly with respect to the cutting rolls of the machine, so that the rate of feed of web to the cutting rolls may be varied with changes in the crepe of the web.

The invention consists of the novel constructions, arrangements and devices to be hereinafter described and claimed for carrying out the above stated objects and such other objects as will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section through the working parts 3,229,974 Patented Jan. 18, 1966 of a machine embodying the principles of the invention and including a pair of tissue folding rolls having jaw pairs which are opened and closed by means of cam and follower mechanism;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are vertical sectional views taken on different vertical planes showing certain working parts of the machine;

FIG. 4 is a detailed view of a driving element, appearing also in FIG. 1, showing means for operating one of the shafts of the machine;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic end view of the machine illustrating an arrangement for driving various operating parts of the machine;

FIG. 6 is a view of a part of the other end of the machine illustrating an arrangement for driving various other operating parts of the machine and including a pair of adjustable pulleys; and

FIG. 7 is an elevational view on an enlarged scale of one of the adjustable pulleys.

Like characters of reference designate like parts in the several views.

The illustrated machine embodies a unit of mechanism designated in its entirety by the reference number 1. The unit comprises cooperating cutter roll pairs 2 and 3, the roll pair 2 embodying a knife roll 4 and an anvil roll 5 and the roll pair 3 comprising similar knife and anvil rolls 6 and 7 respectively. Paper webs 8 and 9 of creped tissue are fed over suitable guide rolls 1t and 11 for the web 8 and a roll 12 for the web 9 to feed roll pairs 13 and 14 respectively. The feed roll pair 13 includes cooperating rolls 15 and 16, at least one of which is positively driven at a predetermined rate of speed to effect travel of the web 8 at the desired rate of travel. Similarly, the roll pair 14 comprises rolls 17 and 18 at least one of which is positively driven at a predetermined rate of speed to propel the web 9 at the required speed which is the same as the speed of travel of the web 8. The rolls of the feed roll pairs 13 and 14 are preferably adjustably mounted so as to facilitate control of the pressure with which the webs fed between them are gripped by the respective roll pairs. The specific means for mounting these rolls forms no part of the present invention and is, therefore, not described in detail.

In the arrangement illustrated, the knife and anvil rolls :of the cutting roll pair 3 are so set with respect to the knife and anvil rolls of the cutting roll pair 2 that the successive lines of severance formed in the web 8 will be located subsequently midway between successive lines of severance formed in the web 9 when the webs 8 and 9 are delivered in face-to-face relation from between the anvil rolls 5 and 7 as shown in FIG. 1.

Commercial forms of facial tissue are usually in the neighborhood of 10 inches in width. It is convenient to interfold a double width of tissue and to subsequently break the double width into separate sections of the required width. Accordingly, the apparatus is provided with slitters 19 and 20 carried on the free ends of the arms 21 and 22 respectively, which are suitably pivotally mounted through the agency of supporting shafts carried by the frames of the upper unit of mechanism.

The slitters 19 and 20 are preferably enclosed by suitable guards 23 and 24 which are carried by the arms 21 and 22, and weighted arms 25 and 26 associated with the respective slitter arms 21 and 22 serve to urge the slitters 19 and 20 toward the respective guide rolls 11 and 12 with sufficient force to slit webs 8 and 9 longitudinally intermediate their widths. The slitting is not quite complete and does not actually separate the webs into two strips, sufiicient but easily breakable bonding remaining to preserve continuity of the divided webs.

The mechanism for Z folding and for interfolding the paper is supported by side frames immediately below the above described web feeding, slitting and severing mechanism. The webs 8 and 9 in face-to-face relation travel downwardly between a pair of folding rolls 27 and 28 which are carried respectively by shafts 29 and 30 which are suitably journalled in the side frame 31. The rolls 27 and 28 are so mounted relative to each other that their surfaces are spaced apart a distance which will cause the rolls to guide the webs 8 and 9 downwardly between them without gripping or exerting any positive feeding elfect. The rolls are continuously rotated in opposite directions, the roll 27 being rotated clockwise and the roll 28 counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 1.

Each of the rolls 27 and 28 carries three sets of jaws and three tuckers, the tuckers being located intermediate the pair of jaws. In the present embodiment of the invention, three pairs of tuckers and three jaws are employed, but it is apparent that by using smaller or larger carrying rolls, or to adapt the apparatus to the interfolding of tissue sheets of shorter or longer length than those for which the present machine is designed, or for other reasons, the number of jaws and tuckers may be varied.

The roll 27 is provided with jaw pairs each embodying a fixed jaw element 33 and a movable rubber tipped jaw element 34. The tuckers provided in the roll 27 are indicated by the reference numeral 35, these tuckers being fixedly mounted in the roll. Similarly, the roll 28 has jaws comprising fixed jaws 36 and movable, rubber tipped, jaws 37 and fixed tuckers 38. The jaws and, tuckers extend for the entire length of the respective rolls, but they are grooved transversely in conformity with the grooves provided in the rolls 27 and 28 for the reception of certain elements which will presently be described. Certain of such grooves are indicated at 39 and 40 in the rolls 27 and 28, respectively. The movable jaws 34 are formed with short shaft sections 41 intermediate the lengths of the jaws and at their ends. The jaws are rockably positioned in the grooves 42 in the body of the roll 27. Similarly, the movable jaws 37 of the roll 28 are provided with intermediate and end shaft sections 43, and grooves 44 in the roll receive the jaws. The intermediate shaft sections 41 and 43 are located in alignment with the grooves 39 and 40 in the respective rolls and are seated in bearing surfaces prepared for that purpose. Bearing caps 45 and 46 are bolted to the rolls 27 and 28 over the jaw shaft sections to hold the jaws in place.

The end shaft sections 41 and 43 on the end of each of the movable jaws 34 and 37 adjacent a side frame 31 are provided with solid arms which carry rolls on their free ends for engagement with cams whereby the jaws may be closed in predetermined synchronism with cooperating elements of the mechanism. One of the solid jaw mechanisms is shown in FIG. 2 wherein the projecting end shaft 41 of the roll 27 is shown as being provided with a solid arm 47. Each arm 47 is provided on its free end with a roller 48 for engaging a cam 49 surrounding the shaft section 41 or 43. Each roller 48 is urged into engagement with the cam by means of a spring 50 compressed between spring seats 51 and 52, the spring seat 51 being fixedly mounted with respect to the roll 27 or 28 and the spring seat 52 being carried by the arm 47. Each of the cams 49 is an external type of cam and has a high dwell portion 53, a low dwell portion 54, an inwardly extending transition portion 55 and an outwardly extending transition portion 56. Each of the cams 49 is fixed with respect to the frame part 31 by means of a cam plate 57.

The end shaft sections 41 and 43, on the other side of the machine are each provided with lost motion arm assemblies 58. Each of the end shaft sections 41 and 43 on these ends is tapered; and a movable jaw arm 59 has a corresponding internal tapered surface and fits on the end of the shaft section. The movable jaw arm is fixed with respect to the shaft section by a stud 60, which is screw threaded into the end of the shaft section, and a washer 61 held in place by the stud. The arm 59 is provided with an outwardly extending portion 62 to which is fixed a radially extending slab 63 of rubberlike material. A cam follower arm 64 is rotatably disposed on each jaw arm 59 by means of a bearing 65. The arm 64 is provided with a radially extending surface 66 adapted to contact the slab 63 of the jaw arm 59. Each cam follower arm 64 carries a roller 67 and is provided with a spring seat 68 in the form of a stud. A spring 69 is disposed on each seat 68 and extends into a corresponding flat bottomeddepression or seat 70 provided in the shaft 29 or 30.

Springs 71 are provided for some of the movable jaws 34 and 37. Referring to FIG. 3, it will be observed that the springs 71 each extends through a cylindrical cavity 72 provided in the, roll 27 or 28. A plug 73 is screw threaded in the end of each cavity 72 for holding the respective spring 71 in place.

A jaw opening cam 74 of the external type surrounds each of the shafts 29 and 30 and the rollers 67 contact the cams 74. The cams 74 are fixed with respect to a side frame 31 by means of cam mounting plates 57. Each of the cams 74 is provided with a high dwell portion 75, a low dwell portion 76, an inwardly extending transition portion 77 andan outwardly extending transition portion 78.

As shown in the drawings, the rolls 27 and 28 with their alternate jaw pairs and tuckers are so related to each other that each tucker of one roll cooperates with a pair of jaws of the other roll. The arrangement is such that eaclr tucker tucks the webs 8 and 9 of tissue into the opposite. or cooperating jaw pair while the jaws are open, the tucker being also fully withdrawn from between the jaws before they close and before the jaws actually grip the tucked in webs. At the time of first contact of a tuckerand itscooperating jaw pair with the web to be folded (or the: webs to be interfolded), the tucker 35 or 38 is preferably located in registry with a radius extending upwardly at about an angle of 12 degrees from a horizontal radius of the roll.

As the rolls 27 and 28 continue their rotation from this; point, the end of the tucker enters the space between the: opposite jaws 33 and 34 or 36 and 37 and moves the web between the jaws. When the tucker point is in registry with the horizontal radius of its roll 27 or 28, the tucker: has reached its position of greatest penetration between; the opposite jaws, and the subsequent travel of the tucker results in withdrawal thereof from between the jaws. On: further rotation of the rolls 27 and 28, the tucker point: is withdrawn from between the opposite jaws, and com plete withdrawal is reached when the tucker point has: traveled so that it is on a radius of its roll extending: downwardly at about an angle of six degrees from the horizontal radius. The opposite jaws at this point of travel of the rolls 27 and 28 are beginning to close on: that part of the web that has been tucked between thejaws by the tucker, and the jaws continue their closing: action as the rolls 27 and 28 rotate farther, so that when the point of the tucker registers with a radius of its roll extending downwardly at about an angle of ten degrees: of the horizontal, the tucker is then completely withdrawn from between the jaws, but the movable jaw has not yet: completely closed on the fixed jaw. As the rolls 27 and 28 continue their rotation for approximately another two degrees, the jaw 34 or 37 has been closed on the jaw 33 or 36, and the tucked in portions of the webs are eifec closed to grip the web against the fixed jaws until the tuckers are completely withdrawn.

After the jaws are closed, they remain closed until the gripped web fold is just about over the edge of the stack in which the folded material is deposited. The pivoted jaw is then opened, with the opening being so timed that the web fold is discharged before the jaws reach their fully open position.

Tautness of the web during the tucking operation is prevented by causing the web feed rolls to deliver the web or webs to the folding rolls 27 and 28 at a speed which is slightly greater than the normal surface speed of the folding rolls, so as to develop a slight amount of slack in the web length extending from the anvil rolls 5 and 7 to the folding rolls 27 and 28 and by so spacing the folding rolls 27 and 28 that the web is free to slip between them incident to the higher feed rate of the web as compared with the travel of the jaws and roll surfaces. By providing slack, both above and below the folding rolls 27 and 28, the tucks may easily be formed without drawing the webs tight over any of the jaw and tucker surfaces or edges. The provision of frictional material jaw tips aids in avoiding withdrawal of the tucks incident to withdrawal of the tuckers and also aids retention of each tuck for a short time after opening of the jaws is started.

The closing of the jaws 34 and 37 is controlled by the rollers 48 carried by the arms 47 following about the cams 49. As the rollers travel from the high dwell cam portions 53 onto the low dwell portions 54 inwardly along the transition portions 55, the springs 50 and the springs 71 move the jaws 34 and 37 to close with the respective fixed jaws 33 and 36.

The opening of the jaws is controlled by the cams 74. As each roller 67 carried by an arm 64 on an end shaft section 41 or 43 travels from a low dwell portion 76 onto a high dwell portion 75 across a transition portion 78, the respective cam follower arm 64 is rotated on a hearing 65. After a predetermined amount of rotation, the radial surface 66 on the arm 64 contacts the adjacent resilient slab 63 of the respective jaw arm 59 and rotates the arm 59 and the jaw 34 or 37 connected thereto. The rotation of the arm 64 is against the action of the associated spring 69, and the jaw opening movement is against the action of the springs 71 acting on the particular jaw. The surface 66 and the resilient slab 63 are separated from each other on the initial rotation of the cam follower arm 64; and, after predetermined rotation of the arm 64, contact is made with the associated slab 63. There thus exists a lost motion connection between the cam follower arm 64 and the movable jaw arm 59.

Since there is no corresponding lost motion in the arms 47 which control the closing of the movable jaws 34 and 37, the rollers 48 separate from the low dwell portions 54 of the cams 49.

The interfolded webs are delivered to a stack located immediately below the rolls 27 and 28, such stack being formed between guide posts or fingers 89 and 90 which are supported at their lower ends on transverse rods 91 and 92. The rods 91 and 92 are carried by bracket members such as 93 and 94 which are fastened to the side frames of the machine. The stack guide members 89 and 90 respectively extend upwardly into suitable grooves in the rolls 27 and 28, there being a suflicient number of these guide members 89 and 90 spaced across the lengths of the rolls to adequately support the tissue stack as shown in FIG. 1. The guides 89 and 90 are, in effect, extended downwardly by tissue channel-forming plates 99 and 100, which are also supported by attachment to the said brackets 93 and 94. The plate 100 is extended forwardly at an angle as indicated at 101 to form the top wall of a horizontally and downwardly extending chute or channel, the bottom wall of which is formed by the upper reach of a conveyor belt 102. The guide plate 99 terminates a short distance above the conveyor belt 102 as shown. The belt 102 is normally driven at a very slow rate of speed approximately corresponding to the rate of travel of the stack of tissues resulting from the addition of folded sheet after sheet to the top of the stack and downward feeding of the stack top by stripping and hold-down devices presently to be described.

The belt 102 is driven from a pulley 103 (FIG. 1) carried by a shaft 104 which is suitably journalled in the frame structure of the machine. At a suitable point in the length of the shaft 104 it has secured to it a clutch disc 105 .(see FIG. 4) which is surrounded by a clutch ring 106. The clutch ring 106 is rocked and has an operative connection to the clutch disc 105 of such character that when the ring 106 moves in one direction, the disc 105 and shaft 104 will be advanced while movement of the ring 106 in the opposite direction will be independent of any movement of the disc 105 and shaft 104-. Any suitable one-way clutch may be employed, and, in this instance, it is represented as constituting .a ball type of clutch embodying one or more balls or rollers 107 housed in recesses such as 108 in the disc 105' and grooves such as 109 in the ring 106. The bottom of the recesses 108 are so related to the circumference of the disc that when the ring 106 turns in one direction, the 'balls will become wedged between the bottoms of the grooves .109 and the bottoms of the recesses 108 so as to effect unitary movement of the ring 106, the clutch disc 105 and shaft 104. Movement of the ring in the other direction serves, of course, to release the clutch balls or rollers so that reverse movement of the ring 106 is not imparted to the disc and shaft 104.

The ring 106 is provided with an arm 110 (see FIG. 1) which is slotted to adjustably receive a pivot block 111. The position of the pivot block 111 in the slotted arm may be adjusted and fixed by any suitable means such as an adjusting screw 112 and a lock nut .113 to thereby facilitate adjustment of the amount of travel imparted to the belt by each operative movement of the clutch ring. Rocking motion is imparted to the arm 111 by means of :an eccentric 114 carried by a shaft 115 suitably journalled in the machine frame. An eccentric ring 116 surrounds the eccentric 114 and is connected to the clutch arm 110 by means of an arm 117 formed integrally with the ring and pivoted to the block 111. The shaft 115 is continuously rotated by a suitable driving connect-ion which will hereinafter be explained.

The jaws 33 and 34 of the roll 27 and the jaws 36 and 37 of the roll 28 serve to alternately deposit web folds at the opposite sides of the stack. To insure stripping of the folds from the jaws which are automatically opened as they approach the vertical planes of the front and rear sides of the stack, there are provided a plurality of stripper ar-ms 118 and 119 respectively associated with the rolls 27 and 28; and the grooves 39 and 40, previously referred to, serve to receive such strippers in their elevated positions. The strippers 118 and 119 are carried respectively by shafts 120 and 121 which :are suitably journalled in the side frames of the machine, and these shafts together with their strippers are rocked in properly timed relation to the travel of the jaws of the respective rolls so that the end or finger portions 118a and 119a of the respective strippers will be operative to strip the folded webs from the jaws of the respective rolls and pack the folded web down 'on top of the stack of folded tissues.

The shaft 120 is roclce'd 'by means of an arm 122 which is carried by the shaft 120 and connected by means of a pin and slot connection to an arm 123 which has an eccentric ring 124- surrounding an eccentric disc 125 carried by a driven shaft 126. The shaft 121 is rocked by similar operating connections to an eccentric 127 carried by a driven shaft 128. The pin and slot connections in the arms serve to permit adjustment of the throw of the stripper fingers 118a and 1190 and their timing may be adjusted by adjustment of the eccentric discs 125 and 127 about the shafts 126 and 128. In addition, the arm 122 on the shaft 120 and its counterpart on the shaft v121 may be adjustably connected .to the shaft to permit adjustment of the position of the respective stripper fingers.

When one of the stripper fingers 118a or 119a is in a down position (in which the stripper 118a is illustrated in FIG. 1) the other stripper is in an elevated position. Also, the stripper fingers have an intermediate position in which they are both located about midway between their upper and lower positions. In order to hold the top of the stack against upward displacement when the stripper fingers 118a and 119a are in elevated relation to the normal top level of the stack, there are provided holding arms or hook-s 129 and 130 respectively carried by shafts 131 and 1 32 which are rockably mounted in the frame sides of the machine. The arms Y129 and 139 are provided at their upper ends with heads 133 and 134 respectively which move from a position overlying the respective margins of the stack to retracted posit-ions clear of the top area of the stack. In their retracted positions the heads of the hold-down arms are received in the aforementioned grooves 39 and 40 at the sides of the respective stripper fingers 118a and 119a. The hold-down arms 129 and 130 are secured to the shafts 131 and 132 which are rock-ed in such synchronism with the movement of the stripper fingers that the hold-down members are brought into operative engagement with the top of the stack before timed relationship will be maintained. The cams 135 and f I 136 respectively act against rollers carried at the free ends of arms 138 and 139 which are respectively secured to the rock shafts 131 and 132.

One arrangement of driving connections for the various parts of the machine is illustrated in FIG. 5. For driving purposes, one of the shafts 29 or 30 may be driven by a suitable chain drive connection to an electric motor, this primary drive being not shown. The shafts 29 and 3! are geared together by gears represented at 143 and 144 secured to the respective shafts 2.9 and 30. The shafts 126 and 12 8 may be driven in properly timed relation to the drive of the interfolding rolls by means of gears represented at 145 and 146 carried by the respective shafts 126 and 128 and meshing with the gears 143 and 144, respectively. For driving the shaft 115 from which the normal feed of the tissue stack is obtained, there may be provided a chain drive represented at 14-7 from a suitable sprocket mounted on the roll shaft 29 to engage a suitable sprocket mounted on the eccentric shaft v115.

The hold-down actuating cams which are carried by the shaft 137 may also be driven by a chain 148 which engages suitable sprocket-s carried by the respective shafts 30 and 137.

The shafts 149 and 154 of the cutter roll pair 3 and the shafts 151 and 152 of the cutter roll pair 2 may be driven by means of an idler gear 153 which meshes with a gear 154 on the interfolder roll shaft 29 and a gear 155 on the cutter roll shaft 150. The gear 155 meshes with another gear 156 on the knife roll shaft 149 and with a gear 157 on the cutter roll shaft 152, said gear 157 also meshing with a gear 153 on the cutter roll shaft 151.

The innermost rolls of the web feed roll pairs 13 and 14 may be driven from the shafts'149 and 151 by means of pulley drives. The drive for the roll 17 as shown in FIG. 6 includes a pulley 159 fixed on the end of the roll 17 and a pulley 160 fixed on the end of the shaft 151. An endless belt 161, which has tapered sides, is disposed about the pulleys 159 and 160, and the belt 161 is held tautly about the pulleys by means of an idler roller 162. The roller 162 is carried on the end of an arm 163 swing- 8. ably disposed on a fixed shaft 164. A manually operated adjusting screw 165 is provided for selectively fixing the position of the roller 162.

The pulley 160 is of the adjustable type and has a pair of opposite, inwardly tapering, parts 166 and 167 '(see FIG. 7) receiving the belt 161 between them. The pulley 160 includes a spring 168 for allowing separating movement of the part 167 with respect to the part 166 so that the belt 161 travels in an are within the pulley 160 closer to the center of the shaft 151. Alternately, the spring 168 moves the part 167 closer to the part 166 so as to increase the arc in which the belt 161 travels within the pulley 160.

A similar belt drive for the shaft 16 from the shaft'149.

is provided. A pulley 169 is fixed on the shaft 16 and an adjustable pulley 170, similar in construction to the An endless belt pulley 160, is fixed on the shaft 149. 171 extends around the pulleys 169 and 170, and a bearing roller 172 is in contact with the belt 171. The hearing roller 172 is adjustable in position by means of a manually operated adjusting screw 173 and is carried by means of a swingable arm 174 which corresponds to the arm 163 for the bearing roller 162.

The pulleys 160 and 170, which are adjustable in eifeo tive diameter by adjusting the rollers 162 and 172, ad vantageously allow the speeds of the rolls 16 and 17 to be changed, so that if the web is of a tightly creped variety, the speeds of the rolls 16 and 17 may be increased whereby breakage of the bonds of the creped webs does not occur. If the creping in the webs, on the other hand, is such that it releasesunduly easily, the speeds of the feed rolls 16 and 17 may be decreased so that the machine does not produce interfolded sheets which are wrinkled.

I wish it to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific constructions and arrangements shown and described, except only insofar as the claim may .be so limited, as it will be understood to those skilled in the art that changes may be made without departing from the principles of the invention.

What is claimed is:

In a rotary folding machine for folding webs of creped tissue the creping in which may vary to provide more orless stretch in the web, the combination of a pair of folding rolls mounted for rotation in opposite directions, a pair of jaws and a tucker carried by each of said folding rolls, means for driving said rolls in such timed rotation that the tucker of each roll enters between the jaws of the other roll and is withdrawn therefrom as an incident.

to the rotation of the rolls, cam mechanism for causing the opening of the jaws of each of said rolls prior to movement of the tucker of the other roll between said jaws and for causing the closing of the jaws of each of said folding rolls as the tucker of the other roll is withdrawn from between the jaws, a pair of feed rolls for feeding a web to be folded to said folding rolls, a pair of cutter rolls cooperating together for partially transversely cutting the web with a few slight bonds remaining as it is fed from said feed rolls to said folding rolls, means for driving said cutter rolls at a predetermined rotative speed with respect to said folding rolls, and means for driving said feed rolls at different selective speeds with respect to said cutter rolls andsaid folding rolls, said last named driving means for each feed roll including a pulley on the feed roll and a pulley rotatable in timed relationship with the said folding roll effective on the same web as the feed roll and a belt extending over said two pulleys, one of the two pulleys for each feed roll being adjustable and including a pair .of opposite pulley parts which embrace the belt passing over the pulley and which are axially separable and the pulley including a spring for yieldably opposing such separation so that the effective diameter of the pulley may be changed by changing the tension on the belt to cause said pulley parts to move apart against said spring or together under the action of the spring, means for selectively changing the tension on each of said belts and including an idler roller acting on the belt between the pulleys supporting the belt, and a manually operated adjusting screw for selectively moving each of said rollers whereby to change the positioning of said two pulley parts of each of said adjustable pulleys with respect to each other and thereby the effective diameter of the pulley so that the speeds of the webs fed to said cutter rolls and said folding rolls may be adjusted with a changed amount of creping of the webs to prevent breakage of said bonds or undue looseness of the webs passings through the machine with resultant wrinkled folded sheets.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Plett 27073 Sabee 27()73 Huck 22641 Halley 22641 Banks 270-73 10 EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner. 

